This family is well represented in Australia by about forty-five species, chiefly described by Macleay (Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S.W. 1871), and later on (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1887–8); and Count Castelnau (Trans. Royal Soc. Victoria). The typical Tiger Beetles are slender graceful insects, with broad short heads, furnished with large projecting eyes, and great powerful jaws; the thorax is produced into a cylindrical neck; and the short rounded elytra cover large wings. [Illustration: =Fig. 55.=--_Megacephala cylindrica_ (Macleay). The Metallic Green Tiger Beetle. (Original photo. Burton.)] The larvae are elongated creatures, with large curving jaws; they live in burrows in the ground, generally in the vicinity of a waterhole or creek where there is a sandy shore; here they remain hidden during the day, and come out at night to capture and devour the less powerful insects they come across. One of our largest and most handsome species is _Megacephala cylindrica_, found in the western country, where it hides deep down in the cracks of the soil; it lives chiefly upon ants. It measures over ¾ of an inch in length, and is of a rich metallic green colour: the mouth, antennae and legs are brownish yellow. A second species, _M. frenchi_, has been recently described by Sloane, and ranges from North West Queensland into Western Australia. The Genus _Tetracha_ contains a number of handsome, shorter, broad-bodied Tiger Beetles with green metallic tints and reddish brown or yellow legs, and similar coloured markings on the wing covers. They form burrows, like their larvae, along the sandy margins of rivers and water-holes, coming out and running along the water’s edge at twilight, and often flying into the lamp at night. _Tetracha australis_ has a wide range from the Murray river to the interior; I have dug them out of the sand round an artesian bore near the Queensland border. It is smaller than the previously described one, which it somewhat resembles in general colour, but can be easily distinguished by the larger jaws, shorter body, and the elytra tipped with yellow near the apex. _T. australasiae_ and _T. hopei_ are smaller species, dull green, marked with reddish brown on the wing covers; they are found in North West Australia, while several other species are recorded from Queensland. The _Cicindela_ are not common about Sydney; two species, however, are to be found; _Cicindela ypsilon_, about ½ an inch long, is so named from the dark markings on the cream-coloured wing cases resembling the Greek E; they are to be found running about on the seashore in hundreds in midsummer, and can easily be caught by throwing a handful of sand over them: though so numerous, I have never been able to find their larvae. In captivity one ate raw beef quite readily, burying its jaw in the strange food and sucking up the juice.